3-037-203 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Herm of Menander, A.D. 1-100. Additional Info: The Greek comic playwright Menander (about 342 to 291 B.C.), is represented in this Roman portrait. The face shows lofty eyebrows, a thin, long nose and fleshy lips. His short hair is comprised of comma shaped locks that cover his broad forehead. The portrait copies the head of a bronze statue by the Greek artists Kephisodotos the Younger and his brother Timarchos (both active 340-290 B.C.), the sons of the famed sculptor Praxiteles. The Roman writer Pausanias mentions the original statue, which was set up as a commemorative monument in the Theater of Dionysos in Athens shortly after Menander's death. The portrait is known from several other versions of the statue, and the occasional example inscribed with his name confirms the identification of all of these versions as Menander. This particular portrait would have surmounted a pillar (a type of statue known as a herm) and likely stood in the garden of a Roman villa.